NY Teacher Forced To Remove Herself From School’s Bible Club

Joelle Silver is a veteran teacher in the Cheektowaga School District in Western New York. She has been teaching Biology and Anatomy for seven years now, and was formerly involved with the school’s bible club before the recent controversy. Silver was forced by the district’s superintendent to take down a prayer box in her classroom, especially made for the bible club and not the school, as well as a variety of sticky notes she kept on her desk that included Reagan quotes and bible verses. Accordingly, the bible verses were not drawn from the more “fire and brimstone” areas of scripture but one of them was from 1 Corinthians 16:13-14 where Paul advises the believers to be strong, be of courage, and to do everything in love. This verse does not mention any of the exclusive claims of Christianity, but somehow it is still terribly offensive. Consequentially, she was forced to end her involvement with the school’s bible club.

Of course, action against Silver only came about after the lovely folks at the Freedom From Religion Foundation filed a complaint with the school district. After the complaint, the school combed her classroom thoroughly, cleansing it of any religious paraphernalia or reference. Silver is being defended by an attorney from the American Freedom Law Center, whose mission is “Fighting For Faith And Freedom.” The school superintendent warned the 29-year old science teacher: “Under no circumstances should you participate in the [Bible Club’s] meetings or activities.” The ACLU has also thrown their hat into the ring.

About the author: Andres Ortiz

Andres Ortiz is the founder of The Saving, a ministry that plays heavy music with heavier Christian content. His new album "David Star", based on the life of David, comes out March 9th, 2014. Follow @andresaving on twitter.